STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A controversial city Police Department unit that spied on the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Tompkinsville and other mosques in New York City is being disbanded -- to the relief of Muslim leaders.

Muslim groups and civil liberties advocates nationwide have applauded
the decision by NYPD officials to disband the Demographics Unit that
tracked the daily lives of Muslims, allegedly as part of efforts to detect
terrorism threats.

CONNECT

WITH US

On mobile or desktop:

And check out our redesigned mobile site by visiting SILive.com from any mobile browser.

Ferid Bedrolli, who heads the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, said the decision was "good" and although he supports the NYPD and national security efforts, he believes the Demographics Unit never should have been established in the first place.

"I am sure that everybody will be more comfortable and happy for the decision that they made," Bedrolli said of the shuttered unit. "In the way it was handled, it was not the right way to do it from the first place. I appreciate the decision, and I'm sure everybody will be happy."

Hesham El-Meligy, a Staten Island interfaith leader, described ending the unit as "an important step in the right direction" but stressed the need for vigilance of the NYPD.

"It is crucial, though, to make sure that good policing practices are back as the way NYPD carries its mission," El-Meligy said. "The immoral, discriminatory and wasteful practices of targeting entire groups based on their faith, color, ethnic background, or national origin must stop.

"We as New Yorkers must ensure that the disbanded unit is not re-branded or its practices are not assigned to other units."

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) also praised the disbanding effort of the unit which they accused of "widespread warrantless surveillance of law-abiding Muslims."

CAIR claimed that "the surveillance was part of a comprehensive human mapping program that described and monitored Islamic institutions, including houses of worship, student groups and businesses that cater to the Muslim community. The NYPD also recruited informants it referred to as 'mosque crawlers' to monitor religious sermons without any suspicion of wrongdoing."

While pleased with the change, CAIR-NY Board President Ryan Mahoney said, "the damage of unconstitutional mass spying on people solely on the basis of their religion has already been carried out and must be addressed.

"We need to hear from the mayor and NYPD officials that the policy itself has been ended and that the department will no longer apply mass surveillance or other forms of biased and predatory policing to any faith-based community."

The Demographics Unit was conceived with the help of a CIA agent working with the Police Department. NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis confirmed Tuesday that detectives assigned to the unit had been transferred to other duties within the department's Intelligence Division.

In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio, called the move "a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our cops and our citizens can help one another go after the real bad guys."

After a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing the extent of the NYPD's surveillance of Muslims, two civil rights lawsuits were filed challenging the activities as unconstitutional because they focused on people's religion, national origin and race.

Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly had defended the surveillance tactics, saying officers observed legal guidelines while attempting to create an early warning system for terrorism. But in a deposition made public in 2012, an NYPD chief testified that the unit's work had never generated a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation in the previous six years.